A hand closes suddenly over Claire's mouth. Her eyes open and widen with horror as a needle is brandished before her, and her shirt is ripped back aggressively to expose her vulnerable, heavily-pregnant stomach. She is stabbed. Again. Again. Repeatedly. Violently.

Kate's eyes open quickly to the sound of Claire's scream. She hurls herself up and presses a switch next to her; the hotel room comes into view.

"Somebody's hurting me, please, help me!"

Claire is sat up on the bed trembling. Kate jumps down from her bed a few feet away and kneels down next to her.

"He held me down!" Claire continues her cries, her eyes streaming.

"Claire, it's okay..." Kate closes her hand softly on Claire's.

"He just ran away, just then!"

"Claire, look at me, it's okay. There's nobody here..."

"There was! I was sleeping and woke up and he was trying to hurt my baby. He had this thing like a needle. He stabbed me with it. He was trying to hurt my-!" She stops mid-sentence when she feels her stomach, not only is there no marks, but it is flat.

"See, it was just a nightmare. That's all it was"

Claire looks around the room. It is a small, damp, basic... and there's no one here apart from them.

"Aaron," she has a look in her eyes like she's just come to a realization, "where's Aaron?"

"He's with your mother. You know that."

"I want to see him."

"Not yet. We'll see him once you feel bet-"

"I want to see my baby!"

"Not yet, Claire." Kate tries her best to balance firmness with kindness. "But soon... soon, okay?"

Claire digests the information, then attempts a nod. Her sobs begin to descend. She looks down shakily at her hands, analyzing the light fingernail marks she has dug into her palms.

Kate watches her, "was it the same nightmare?"

"Yeah... the pregnancy, the needle, the stabbing... Ethan." Her and Kate exchange a look. "I don't understand, Kate. What do you think it means?"

Kate thinks for a second, "Look, things are going to be weird for a while. You're just adjusting... to this. You were on the island for a long time, Claire."

"The last time I had that nightmare, Kate, it... it wasn't a nightmare. It was real. It really happened."

There is a pause. They both know what each other is thinking; terrible mind-flashes of the events of 2004... Ethan not being on the manifest... Claire being taken... Charlie found hanged... Jack saving Charlie... Charlie shooting Ethan... A small chapter of their island life... a million years ago... unknowing of all the unimaginable events that would come after.

"Well, it's not happening now," Kate thoughts are back to the present, "Ethan died a long time ago, Aaron is safe with your mother and the island... the island is million miles away. Nothing can happen to you here, Claire. You're home now. You're safe."

There is a second pause, this time Kate doesn't know what Claire is thinking.

"No," Claire replies softly, not removing her gaze from the tattered carpet, "I'm not."

"What?"

"I'm not home, Kate."

"What are you talking about? Of course you-"

"You're home," she interrupts Kate, finally looking up, "But I'm still there. I never left."

"Claire, you're not making any sense."

"Look at me! Look what the island has done to me, I shouldn't be here!"

"Yes, you should. Aaron is here. Aaron needs you."

"Aaron doesn't need this! This mess..." she looks down at herself, "...this... this body damaged by a place that we have to lie about, that no one even knows exists!" Claire's tear-stained cheeks are now trailing with new ones. "A place where horrible, horrible things happened"

Kate is lost for words for a second, her eyes beginning to tear up also, but quickly gathers her thoughts, "you are going to get better. You are."

"I can't sleep," Claire continues her cries, "I can't eat, I can't even think... without my mind being on that island... and I'm scared, Kate... I'm really scared."

"I know," Kate nods, tightens her grip on Claire's hand, "I know you are... and I am too, but I went back to that island to get you, to find you, to bring you back HOME. And now I have... for Aaron... for you."

Claire follows suit and grips Kate's hand vice-like.

"I will help you," Kate continues, "just like I said I would."

Claire manages a slight smile through her sobs, and suddenly breaks down into tears, resting her head slowly onto Kate's chest. Kate puts her arms around her and rocks her lightly, "you'll get better. I promise."

As these words ran from Kate's mouth and through her head, she began to question their credibility. The future was mysterious; like everything, she didn't know for sure how things would turn out, whether or not Claire would indeed get better, but her words where filled with hope, and hope was all she and Claire had.

Hope was the only thing keeping everything from falling apart.